In the days leading up to September 20th, Brandon had been keeping an eye on several groups of interest, all pertaining to the actual piloting of AG racing craft. A week before the day itself, Brandon had sent notices stating that applications were open for AG pilots, under a cover company. On the day, though, there weren't that many applying, but one person that did was one that caught Brandon's eye.

She looked quite young, and was in fact still in her school uniform. What really got Brandon's attention, though, wasn't her general appearance, but more so her expression. She seemed to be really happy, as if she was eager to be presented with the chance to become a pilot, but there was also a rather fierce determination in her gaze that no-one was even close to having.

"Welcome everyone," Brandon addressed them all. "My name is Brandon Smith, and I am the founder and leader of Katana Advancements. It's a pleasure to meet you all!"

A few of the people there nodded. The schoolgirl just kept staring at him with interest.

"Now, before we begin, I will need you all to sign a couple documents we have prepared. It's just some legal stuff, for both our safety as well as yours. The interviews will also contain a practical aspect, but in order to explain what it is, you'll need to sign the second document, which is a Non-Disclosure Agreement. I'll give you several minutes to read through and sign them all."

The group of potential pilots had wondered why it was necessary, but they were given a chance to do something they loved for work, so they naturally read through and signed all the documents they had been presented with. With that done, Brandon took the documents back and, after passing them off to another employee, spoke up.

"Alright, now that that's in order, let's continue. I will be speaking to each of you, one by one, about you and why I should hire you for the job. Then, once that's done, I'll take you to another room, where you will complete the practical section of the interview: a round of our state-of-the-art racing simulator. Now, first... I'll go with you, Mr. Wilson."

After going through mostly all of the applicants, there were only three left, one of whom was the determined schoolgirl.

"Tarah Andrews." Brandon called.

"Ah! Yes!" She replied, leaping off her seat excitedly.

Brandon smiled and turned, walking ahead over to the interview room, letting the girl follow him. When he got over to the desk situated in the room, he pointed to a chair on one side of it.

"Please, take a seat." He gestured, before sitting at the other end of the desk and beginning the interview. "So, tell me a bit about yourself. You... seem kind of young? I mean, it's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm just... curious."

"I-I don't mind!" Tarah shook her head, still smiling. "Well, um... I'm 17, so I am in my final year of high school. But I really don't want that to be a problem! I've been interested in racing for as long as I can remember."

"So you have a lot of passion. That's good, I like that. I don't see the point in doing something you'd rather not do."

"Yeah!"

"And age isn't an issue regarding this job, all that matters is how well you can race. And, of course, your enjoyment in doing so."

"Ah, thanks! So, hmm, what else about me... I... guess I'm pretty good at racing itself, or at least, I like to think I am."

"Interesting... would you be willing to put that to the test?"

"You mean the simulator? Sure!"

"Great, if you'd like to follow me."

Brandon stood up and walked with Tarah to another room, which housed a single simulator, hooked up to a computer and some other monitoring equipment.

"Your task is to obtain a high score," He instructed her, "Although please bear in mind we are going for a certain racing style. Now, if you'd like to get seated, we may begin this test."

"Okay!" Tarah said happily, sitting in the simulator.

Brandon manned the computer and tapped away at the mouse, setting several variables for the test. Once he was ready, he looked back at Tarah.

"Okay, is everything alright on your end? Are you ready?"

Tarah gave him a thumbs up. "Yep! Whenever you're ready!"

"Alright then, Starting now."

With a final click of the mouse, the simulator booted up, loading the variables Brandon had set prior. Then, the countdown started, with Tarah being placed on the final position on the grid. Upon the signal to go, Tarah set off, piloting the virtual craft with an astounding amount of finesse. She seemed to be nailing almost every corner after several laps of getting to know the course, and she was passing a lot of the craft ahead of her without any real problems, often just using a weapon to slow them down to be passed.

At the end of the race, Brandon reviewed the results, along with her total score. When he saw what she ha done, his eyes widened.

"...how could a 17-year old pass the test this easily?! That... you just posted a high score! You know what Tarah?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at him.

Brandon smiled at her. "I think I've just found one of the pilots I've been looking for. Welcome to Katana's 'Angelus project'."

Gareth was walking towards his car, ready to head back home. However, it seemed like his day wasn't over yet. Before he could get in, his phone rang.

"Yeah? Gareth speaking. Who's this?"

The man on the other end responded. "Brandon Smith. Of Katana. Are you free?"

"Who?"

"Brandon Smith. We met two years ago. My group were one of your sponsors for the FX150."

"Oh, right. I... guess I remember?"

"Good, good. So are you free?"

"Uh... yeah, just got off. Why?"

"Ah, it's just that I'm in the area, figured we could have a talk."

"Al...right, where should we meet up?"

Brandon gave the location of a local cafe in the area, which Gareth agreed to. Driving over there, he saw that Brandon was already there, as if he was on his way there, or was there when he phoned him. Entering the cafe, he took a seat at the table he was sitting at, sitting opposite him.

"Gareth, How have you been?" Brandon greeted him.

"I've... been okay. Why did you want to see me all of a sudden after two years?"

"I'll get to that, we have time. What have you been you to recently?"

"If I'm honest? Not a whole lot."

"Huh, interesting. Are you still interested in racing?"

Gareth chuckled. "I don't think I'll ever be uninterested."

Brandon smiled. "In that case then, how do you feel about being a part of my team?"

"You have a team?"

"It's under wraps, I can't really talk about it, but it's going to be a professional team, yeah."

"I am... but the professional league? I really don't know if I'll be good at it. I'm sorry, I just can't go through with it in good conscience."

After thinking for several seconds, Brandon stood up.

"Alright, I can understand that. The project will go ahead. If you ever change your mind, come over to Perth, the position will remain open."

"Okay."

As he watched Brandon walk away, something jumped to his mind, causing him to stand up from his seat.

"Brandon, wait!"

The man stopped, and turned back around.

"Yes?"

"...thank you, for the consideration of letting me be a part of it."

16th June 2017, 04:44 AM

Ace3000

Beta Angels: 0x05

Apologies for the wait. I've got some irl stuff happening, so these are going back to one part a week.

Beta Angels(0x05) >Phase_02<>>WRC: Group A<21981118>

Sunday, November 18th, 2198

Melbourne, Australia.

Katana had been participating in the World Rally Championship since 2192, entering a modified version of their Hydros car to Group A specifications. With the rise of Anti-Gravity technology, specifically in racing, the FIA split the WRC into two groups. Group N was the standard Group as it was before the split, where Group A was for Anti-Gravity cars. The two differences in drives had made the groups relatively popular even when AG cars took precedence over cars with traditional wheels.

In 2194, another manufacturer had entered Group A. A Japanese car manufacturer known as Mistral developed a formidable competitor, based on their 222 compact sedan. Katana were no match for them, and the '93 champions had been defeated. Back to the drawing board, the Katana Rally Team messed about with the tuning and everything else they could to best the sudden newcomers the following year.

2195 saw the return of Katana as champions of Group A, and had signalled the beginning of a rivalry between Mistral and Katana. The public began to compare and pit together the two manufacturer's homologated road cars, the Hydros RT-S from Katana, and the 222 RS from Mistral. However, the 2198 season would be Katana's last, as the group's focus on the F-class grew to the extent that they were required to drop production of their cars.

Like the previous year, the competition between Katana and Mistral in 2197 were quite close, with Mistral's 222 WRC97 just beating out Katana's Hydros WRC v4.0. That victory had put the teams at yet another tie in terms of overall victories since the start of the rivalry, the previous WRCs being won by Mistral in 2194, Katana in both 2195 and '96, and Mistral once again in '97. Thus, the 2198 season meant a lot to both teams, to both gain a victory over the other. That was only made more apparent when Katana announced that it would be the final year they were competing.

The utter limits of the technologies were pushed by both teams as well, previous rallies that year had shown that both the 222 WRC98 and the Hydros WRC v4.5 were much, much faster than just the previous year, showing they were hell-bent on beating the other. They had seemed to be just as fast as each other, by the time of the final rally of the season in Australia, both teams were at a point where either could win.

The final stage was a Super Special Stage, a one on one shoot out over a special course. The course contains two lanes, one shorter than the other. Halfway through, the lanes cross over each other, the longer lane leading into the shorter and vice-versa. The one to complete a full lap, by returning to the lane they started in, would win the event and have the time added to their total time.

Starting on the shorter lane was Katana's Hydros, sporting a black livery with a red stripe tear design along the sides. On the longer side was Mistral's 222, which had a blue base colour and, along with light and dark grey stripes, a white "claw tear" pattern on the bonnet and sides.

On the signal to go, both cars set off at a rapid rate, both tuned to accelerate as fast as they could, but were slightly impeded by the gravel surface. Naturally, Katana seemed to come out in front, due to the car racing along the shorter side of the course. Therefore, it was hard to tell who would truly be in front until the race ended.

The cars were gliding around the corners at breakneck speed, the drivers angling their cars to drift around them to keep their speed up. The anti-gravity drives finding traction over the gravel surfaces, kicking it up behind them as they raced ahead. The shorter route had a very small tarmac section, a bridge that crossed over the other lane of the track. Since it went along the shorter route to begin with, the Hydros made the jump the bridge made to the longer route well before the 222 sped under it to the shorter route. Now on the other lanes, the cars crossed the line for the second lap.

With Katana ahead, it was now up to Mistral to catch up to them by using the shorter route to their advantage, while Katana were relegated to the longer route. However, the longer route had far more gentle corners, while the shorter one contained more sharp corners. As Mistral gained on them, the tension had also risen. Fans of both teams had filled the stadium, and were very eager to watch the race and its outcome. By the end of it, the cars seemed to cross over and under the bridge at the same time, the final portion of the race initiating.

It practically gave the victory to them. The final part was, on the longer track, a sharp corner, along with a longer run to the finish. The short route was just a short, gentle curve to the finish line. Naturally, with both cars at the same point, the one that was on the shorter route would be the ones to win.

With a grand total difference in time by only a few seconds, along with the victory in the Super Special Stage, the overall champions of the 2198 Group A championship was the Katana Rally Team, winning their rivalry with Mistral on their final rally before the plug was pulled on their road car development.

They had only used the season for testing twice prior, but a white craft covered in azure camouflage patterns rose up to the start grid once it was safe, and set off at an alarming rate. However, it wasn't as quick to get up to speed as a Goteki, or as blindingly fast as an Icaras or Piranha.

The craft was far from complete in the eyes of the Brandon. He wasn't looking for complete perfection, but he did idealise a craft that could accelerate, top out and turn faster than what the current product was capable of doing. In addition, the shields were extremely sub-par and it seemed like there were no weapon technologies on-board. Despite the camouflaging, the craft's body was also far from complete, being what was to be the last design before the final, more aerodynamic body style that would be a part of the AGR1 chassis.

However, in its current spec, the craft could hold off its own, seeming to be quite fast. It was able to overtake a few of the craft on the track, and yet, Brandon wanted it to be even faster. He knew the limitations of the then proposed FX400, he wanted to make the best of them and push the craft's specs to that limit.

As the craft soared around the track with a bit of gracefulness, various spectators and team members watched the new chassis make its rounds. Even though the stats made it seem like an inferior combination of an Assegai and an AG Systems, its lack of weapon use gave it an aura of purity.

Brandon was looking on, observing the test. The craft's telemetry was output to several screens, which were monitored by a few high-ranking technicians, along with Brandon himself.

"Hmmm," Brandon noted, "The 3K8 engine is definitely an improvement over the 6, but it definitely needs more power. The shields are also far from a competitive state, I'll try to figure something out regarding that. Xavier, could you read me the thrust outputs?"

"They're running at full capacity." Xavier Reid replied.

"Full?" Brandon asked confusedly, "How often?"

"See for yourself." He pointed at the screen.

The line graph showing the thrust use was rather odd. For most of the time, it was a solid line somewhere above the halfway point of the graph, not even reaching the top.

"Sh*t. It's bottlenecked. The system can't cope."

"Yeah. I'm sure you know what that means?"

"Naturally. A more powerful system is required to deal with the upgrade to the 3K8. Although, the engine will get an upgrade in and of itself anyway, so we should probably not develop the thrust system separate to the engine."

"Agreed. How about the pilot, should we bring them in, or keep them going?"

Brandon hummed in thought, coming to a decision soon after.

"Keep going. Wouldn't hurt to get as much data as we can get."

------------

After getting the okay to continue flying, a now 26-year old Tarah Andrews let out a small grin, and began pushing the craft further, which admittedly wasn't much at all due to the limited systems. But her task was to push the craft to it's limit, so she did just that. There didn't seem to be any problems with the craft or the test itself. As she rounded the final corner before the end of the lap, though...

CRUNCH

"NGH!"

The craft was shunted to the right unexpectedly and quite violently. It seemed that something heavy had hit her craft at speed.

"What the hell?!" Tarah exclaimed, looking back to see what exactly had hit her. All she could see was something dark in colour, but that was more than enough. A craft had rammed into her own.

Brandon, meanwhile, was livid. He was hunched over the console, fists clenched and breathing heavily. He was able to see the dark grey craft clearly, the team's name adorned in large yellow letters.

"It... can't be... they were gone!" He muttered through gritted teeth.

A craft bearing the name of one of the main teams that fuelled the flames of corruption in the F9000 was making its rounds on the track. The way it had simply rammed into the incomplete Angelus craft, which was a staple of the team's nature, had made it seem like they were, indeed, back.

As Brandon and Xavier were conversing, giving all their attention on the telemetry and not the track itself, one other craft had risen from the start grid and taken off, that of a tri-hull variety, bearing Tigron's name in large yellow letters on the side. It flew across the track at a speed that Brandon had only seen the likes of Piranha and Icaras achieve.

Despite the prototype Angelus craft being able to accelerate and turn every so slightly quicker, the longer straight sections of Talon's Junction meant that it had more than enough time to catch up to it, and...

CRUNCH

...ram right into it as it took the turn onto the end straight.

When the Tigron craft rammed into her, a couple of systems let out some shrill warning beeps, a side-effect of the less-than-complete shielding system. Regaining her composure and control, she made an attempt to get away from or otherwise avoid the craft's further attacks on her.

After regaining his composure, Brandon had a dilemma on his hands.

'This would be a perfect time to conduct a test against that... but the craft is far from complete. Mmh, if only it were in a more stable state... argh, what do I do?!'

At that moment, Tarah contacted the control room through her communications system.

"Brandon! What do I do?! This guy is all over me!"

"I know!" Brandon replied, "I'm thinking. You know what the team's philosophies are, but that craft is far from complete."

The Tigron craft had caught up to her on the straight before the final corner. It moved alongside her, then turned away from her, to prepare for another attack. Tarah had seen this and, just as it turned towards her to launch the ramming attack, she engaged the airbrakes, slowing down enough for the craft to miss her. However, the pilot had seen her move, and had turned out of the attack to avoid hitting the wall. It wasn't over like that, though. It too had applied its airbrakes, but in addition, it had manoeuvred itself so that when Tarah entered the corner to the final straight, she had no other choice but to hit the craft as she navigated the turn.

"Agh, sh*t... Brandon, please, can you hurry up and make a decision?! What should I do?"

As the two craft flew across the start line for another lap, past the point where she could safely return, Brandon made his decision.

"I'm not risking it, get back now."

"I wish you could have said that earlier, but fine. I need to make another lap, though."

"Would you be able to hold them off?"

"I hope so."

------------

Meanwhile, as that great battle was taking place, a certain Angelus employee was watching on, viewing the datacast on a massive screen for spectators. She was looking on intently, absolutely beaming at the clashing of racing styles, violent and non-violent, placid and aggressive.

"...wow... so this is what that was like..." She spoke quietly, her eyes glowing slightly. "this is... beautiful."

------------

Back on the track, Tarah made every attempt to avoid the Tigron's attacks, some were successful, others had her getting shunted sideways. Soon, though she was nearing the end. She allowed herself to come side to side with the craft. This time, instead of preparing a hard hit from side-on, it just moved directly at her. Once again, she attempted to brake out of the way, but the dark craft was able to get an attack in, hitting the front corner of the craft. That skewed the craft's position.

Tarah was able to use it to her advantage, however. Keeping the skewed position held, she was able to drift into and around the final corner, keeping the aggressive craft ahead of her. As she entered the final straight, she applied the brakes again, this time to come to a complete halt over her pits. As soon as she was over them, she was pulled down into it, bringing both her and the prototype craft back to safety, the latter getting a complete post-test check-up.

"What the hell was that?!" Tarah exclaimed. "They were seriously aiming for me! And another thing, aren't those ramming techniques illegal?!"

"They are." The Personnel Manager explained. "The Race Commission is up in arms about this. No-one knows anything about them, or even how they keep getting allowed in."

"What? Not even the Race Commission knows?"

"Par for the course, really. Hope they get it sorted soon, though. Definitely not keen on Tigron returning."

"Are they really that bad?" She asked sincerely.

The Personnel Manager blinked for a second, "Ah, that's right, you're too young to know. Tigron were one of the main teams that made the F9000 as corrupt as it was. Trust me, they are really that bad."

At the same time, Brandon, Xavier and several others were inspecting the damage done to their prototype craft. The shielding systems were critically damaged, causing some of the bodywork to become physically dented in some places, outright broken in others.

"Tch, this is going to take a while to fix. Do you think it's worth it, or should we move on to upgrading it again?"

"Upgrade it, of course. This isn't the final body design anyway." Brandon spoke, deciding to go through all the aspects of the aftermath. "Like I said before, I'll figure something out regarding the shields, but this system is just shot. The rest of the fixes would just come naturally with the upgrades the craft will get."

He looked back to Tarah, conversing with the Personnel Manager about Tigron and the F9000.

"She did a good job though, this outcome could have been a whole lot worse. Although, this would not have lasted another lap against that thing."

"Fascinating, that was better than we had anticipated." A representative of a certain underground group commented. "You definitely know your way around that craft."

"Thank you," The pilot of 'that craft' replied. "It's a rather good craft."

"If you'd like, we could tell you more about it. At a price, of course."

The man that piloted the craft scoffed, and pushed up a pair of white-rimmed glasses that had slid down the bridge of his nose.

"Feh, you should know by now that money is no object for me."

"Evidently so. Even so, you must not tell anyone. This remains with us, got it? If word of this leaks out, let's just say... there will be some consequences."

"Only those too stupid to keep their mouths shut would blab." He retorted, folding his arms.

"Do you have the money now?"

"Cash or digi-transfer?"

"Cash, like the transaction for the craft."

"Right. It depends on how much it will cost, then. Although, seeing how much it cost to pilot the craft, I wouldn't have it on me."

"It's not as much as the costs to pilot it, but it would still cost an extra 500,000."

"Somehow, I was thinking it wouldn't be just a few hundred. Come by Monday, I'll have it by then."

The representative nodded. "Very well. Good luck with the race tomorrow."

"Thank you."

------------
<22061026>

Monday, October 26th, 2206

Parking lot of Talon's Junction, Wales.

True to his word, the pilot had met up with the representative, with a briefcase full of money.

"Here's the money, as promised. Now, what's this extra info you have?"

"You do remember what I said, right?" The representative asked.

"Of course. I have no need or desire to disclose whatever it is you're about to say. It's purely for my own curiosity."

"Excellent."

He took the briefcase and opened it, looking at the contents for several seconds.

"That seems to be in order. Now, the information. There is a good reason as to the high costs of piloting the craft. The maintenance and insurance only covers a tiny portion of the costs."

"You're using it as a business. Rather fascinating."

The representative laughed, "Not quite. Wile we do need the extra money, it's not just to make a business out of renting the craft."

"Then...?"

"We require the funds for a related, but different cause. You see, while the original company was forcibly shut down, this craft was literally the last thing to escape the factory. Even the craft that was used in the FX300 was constructed before this thing."

The pilot nodded. "That explains the discrepancy in the design."

"Yes. In any case, as it was smuggled out, my group... acquired it, along with several important assets. Using them, along with the funds we receive through renting the craft out, we plan to develop a new craft for the new upcoming league... and resurrect Tigron Enterprises from the grave."

There will be another break, as I finalise the Season 3 stuff. Not sure how long it will take, but there will be another small side thing before Season 3 kicks off.